Given that Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.) ruled over Judea for more than 30 years and built some of the ancient world’s most impressive monuments, it might seem odd that not a single coin has been found that bears the king’s likeness. After all, most of Herod’s neighbors and contemporaries, including the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, queen Cleopatra of Egypt and the Nabataean king Obodas III, issued coins emblazoned with their portraits.

But as the ruler of a Jewish kingdom where the production of graven images was prohibited by Biblical law, Herod did not want to offend the masses (or the Temple priests) by placing his portrait on the kingdom’s coins. Instead, Herod, like his Hasmonean predecessors, decorated his coins with depictions of common Jewish religious symbols …